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Year: 2018

Photo: Madagascar Deforestation by Cunningchrisw @ WikimediaCommons

Review: ‘The Overstory’ by Richard Powers

Written by Bayley Cornfield on . Posted in Books.

Just a few weeks ago, the world’s leading climate scientists announced that mankind has just twelve years left to limit the irreversible impact of climate change on our planet. Sparking conversation across the globe, the news has, for most, awoken a desire for change. But in order to ignite this change, perhaps we should first look back and ask ourselves: how did we get here? This is the question addressed in The Overstory, the latest novel by established American author, Richard Powers.

Shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize this year, The Overstory is incredibly ambitious. Its timeline spans generations, intricately weaving together the lives of nine individuals whose profound, and often devastating connection to trees, forms a grand narrative with nature at the heart of its understory.

In Powers’ America, disease and deforestation have been allowed humans to destroy the natural landscape for decades. Until, as the novel nears the turn of the century, his diverse cast are brought together by eccentric student Olivia Vandergriff and scientist Patricia Westerford, to save what remains of the ancient forests.

Powers is no stranger to formal experimentation, and I found that his use of other books, poetry, philosophical interjections, and even illustrations, enriched the narrative layers at work. The book seems to always be doing two things at once. When reading about a character in the present, its lucid prose transports you years into their future and back again in a matter of lines. Powers’ style captivates with its raw portrayal of human experience, whilst instilling an acute awareness of the trees whispering: “Listen. There’s something you need to hear”.

Illuminating the parallels between the natural world and the increasingly technological human world, however, is not always so elegantly done. There are occasions where the use of botanical jargon becomes a little tedious, and the mechanical descriptions throughout tech-God Neelay Mehta’s narrative are jarring at first, taking some getting used to. Despite this, the beauty of the metaphor is not yet lost on Powers. Vietnam veteran Douglas Pavlicek falls from a tree down to Earth a “winged seed”, and Chinese-American engineer Mimi Ma’s understanding of “The Refuge Tree” is transformed after her journey into environmental activism. The contrast between activism and ignorance, so relevant in today’s political climate, is explored throughout the novel.

Each of the characters we come to know suffer tragic losses or have life-changing encounters, which serve either to bring them closer to, or push them away from, nature. Some lose their parents, freedom, or a sense of identity, causing them to abandon a childhood intrigue with the world around them. Others are brought back to life, literally and figuratively, by “the presences”, enlightened to the fact that life is about something so much bigger than themselves.

Powers allows these experiences to shape each character’s relationship with the environment. An artist joins others in peaceful protest, only to face the same institutionalised violence that the news refuses to report today. A skeptical psychology major who wants to study the minds of “tree huggers”, is converted after interviewing the illusive Watchman and Maidenhead. The book sympathises with many human rights issues that our society is currently facing whilst placing the self-absorbed aloofness of humanity under the microscope.

At times, I found myself frustrated at certain characters’ development. I had hoped that Neelay would maintain his innocent belief in possibility, and become a central figure in the battle against deforestation. And the poignantly portrayed breakdown of Ray and Dorothy Brinkman’s marriage demanded most of their arc, making them difficult to place within the ecology of the novel. But Powers’ inability to shy away from harsh and unforgiving reality, is just one of the things that makes The Overstory so powerful. Accidents happen and relationships crumble. We find ourselves on the brink of breakthrough before life steps in and tells us, against our better judgement: “you are not ready yet”. Neelay and the Brinkmans’ delayed epiphanies are only made more rewarding, in the end.

The Overstory is a novel about connection, about understanding, about seeing the world outside of ourselves, not just our place within it. Through his eclectic style and rich characterisation, Powers tells us all how even “the best arguments in the world won’t change a person’s mind. The only thing that can do that is a good story”.

Photo: Gage Skidmore @Flickr

Review: Halloween

Written by Tobias Soar on . Posted in Film.

A brutal tale of trauma and revenge with a sprinkle of nostalgia, David Gordon Green’s Halloween is a fantastic sequel to the 1978 original. Believable performances, perfect cinematography and a hard-hitting score by the one and only John Carpenter (alongside his son, Cody Carpenter) make the 11th film in the series a sequel that finally breaks the curse of terrible Halloween follow-ups.

Green’s entry in the Halloween series serves as a direct sequel to the original, taking place 40 years after it, ignoring the existence of the other critically-panned films. The main focus of the story is on Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) and her daughter’s  family, particularly focusing on the repercussions of trauma on generations of victims.

Since the first film, Dr. Sartain (Haluk Bilginer) has made studying the killer, Michael Myers, his life’s work. He wants to understand why Myers kills – a question which has driven the mystery behind the whole series. The Shape, a masked figure, is portrayed as a mute, inhuman which simply kills. Not for enjoyment, not for revenge, but because he is simply born to do so which is a fascinating horror that Green’s Halloween gets perfectly right.

The feeling of dread and paranoia is audiovisual as well as psychological. Carpenter brings back the original score and twists it ever so slightly, amping up the bass frequencies and upping the highs. The balance between soundtracked horror and dead silence is perfect, allowing for sequences to overwhelm the viewer or put them on edge when needed.

Most of the story occurs in the dead of night or in dark interiors, the use of lighting throughout the film along with stark contrasts make everything visible, a feat which many modern horror films cannot get right. Flashing lights from police cars add to the confusion, strobing the eyes of the audience.

Acute Dutch angles, where the camera has been rotated, further push the feeling of dread while the framing of characters is intentionally off-centre making the viewer constantly check over the subject’s shoulders. Some sequences are visual carbon copies of the original Halloween, satisfying fan’s need for nostalgia without being too obvious.

Another decision I appreciated is the use of gore. Some kills are shown on camera in all their bloody glory while others are not shown except the stomach-churning aftermaths. The special effects and makeup are frighteningly real, making the slasher’s horrors believable.

Well-written, perfectly shot and paced, a powerful soundtrack, a satisfying story arc and a surprisingly fitting comedic scene in the middle of it all make Halloween on par with the original. Great horror lives on, let’s hope it learns from Laurie Strode and keeps fighting for its life.

Halloween is in cinemas everywhere.

 

Rating: 5/5.

Photo: Jill Adam @ Flickr

Louder Than Words festival: an interview with John Robb

Written by Liv Clarke on . Posted in Features.

Manchester’s musical history certainly leads itself to be the ideal venue for industry related events, with the weekend of the 9th of November seeing the return of Louder Than Words Festival. The three-day festival takes place at the Principal Hotel and will feature panels, performances, and Q and As. I had the opportunity to speak with John Robb, music journalist and co-curator of the event, about what’s in store and why students should get involved.

Louder Than Words examines the relationship between writing and music, not specifically lyrics and song writing, but how the music industry is viewed by the media and how it influences literature. It’s a varied event with people from different backgrounds, united by their passion for music. “Music is essential to the festival,” John tells me, “and people who write about music. But there are also authors who don’t write about music, there’ll be interviews with writers and musicians and books will be sold at the event.”

There will be something for everyone at the festival with events ranging from contemporary topics to retrospective musings. On the Friday evening, radio presenter, Gemma Cairney will be in conversation, while on Saturday evening a discussion ‘Do Ravers Dream of Electric Beats’ will be held about the Electric Dance Music scene today. For those who are into their visual media, ‘Pin-Ups 1972-82: 10 Years of Classic Posters from The Punk, New Wave and Glam Era’ will look at some of the artwork involved within those periods of music history. Considering the volume of posters plastered on the walls at university and Fallowfield, this aspect of pop culture is still going strong today.

It’s clear that the festival will be a friendly and welcoming event, John explains that it’s a great place to meet with those who are involved in the industry. “It’s always good to see people who’ve done it all their lives, it’s a varied selection. You need to know people in order to get work, so it’s an invaluable opportunity to socialise with music and media folks.” Louder Than Words aims to create a comfortable atmosphere, with no walls between the speakers and the viewers, “it’s important to us for people to get on, we introduce them to each other, and getting all the people together in the same space. [The event] is not too big, you can just hang out, a good space to just spend the day.”

The festival provides an insight into the music business; singer and songwriter Guy Pratt will be sharing his stories of working with big names such as Michael Jackson and Madonna, elsewhere photographer Shelia Rock will discuss her documentation of the London punk scene. In a world dominated by social media, where musicians can share every aspect of their lives, it’s fascinating to hear the tales of those who worked with legendary names, before a time where you could access all areas.

This is the sixth year of the festival, its success is thanks to the uniqueness it offers as it unites the spheres of music and writing. “It’s a celebration of words and music,” John describes it perfectly, “it’s intrinsically linked to music, a celebration of the world”. Hosting an event like this in Manchester is important as the city provides a rich musical backdrop, “Manchester has a music-focused history, it’s a media city, an international city,” John says. For him, the hotel itself adds to the atmosphere, “The Principal hotel is old school Victoriana, it looks like the hotel from the Shining!”

A key theme of the festival is uniting music fans together, whether they are involved in this industry or not. John is particularly looking forward to interviewing author Ian Rankin on the Sunday afternoon, about his ten favourite albums. “Ian Rankin’s good, so engaged with music. Some people will talk about music inside and out. This year has got the strongest line up of guests. A lot of people are coming out [to the festival], lots of fans of music.”

It sounds like the festival will be full of people all sharing the same passions about music and writing, from all different areas of those respective industries. “Its great stuff, very diverse and interesting,” John sums it up — “a good place to be for the weekend.”

You can find out more about the festival and buy tickets from its website, discounts can be made available for students.

Photo: Ashley Karrell

Review: ‘Windows of Displacement’

Written by Scarlett Gorman on . Posted in Theatre.

‘Windows of Displacement’ was a breathtaking and powerful exploration of personal identity through the mediums of dance, spoken word, song, and physical theatre. A solo performance by Akeim Toussaint Buck, this show managed to capture the attention of the audience through the entirety of the 55 minute performance.

The performance fluctuated between an extremely performative, intense tone, and a chatty casual one, where Toussaint Buck would have light-hearted conversation and jokes with members of the audience. This change in tone was often a gradual transition, as Toussaint Buck utilised the involvement of audiences in a call and response style. Teaching the audience some of the lyrics to a traditional Jamaican folk song ‘Guh Dung a Manuel Road’ created a camaraderie between the performer and his spectators. This was then taken to the next level when the audience were asked to find someone in the room whom they did not know and take a picture with them, making everyone in the room feel comfortable. This was extremely important, as Windows of Displacement is a show that discusses and explores a number of very serious social issues.

As an autobiographically sourced solo piece, the performance explored the socio-economic and historical politics of being someone of Jamaican ancestry living in the UK. Looking back at the atrocious years of slavery, whilst addressing the modern day slavery of the Congo, the audience were given hard facts – but due to the occasional breaks in the performance where Toussaint Buck chatted with the audience, it wasn’t hard to take in. Instead, there was a desire to learn more about the information that was being provided to you.

The physical aspects of the performance were visually stunning, with not a single beat missed. The beauty of the movements created almost a trance effect on the audience, keeping them still and silent as the performance progressed. This was juxtaposed by the laughter that ensued when the lights would come up for Toussaint Buck’s sporadic casual dialogue with the audience.

For a performance about such deep-rooted and serious societal issues, care for an audience can often be at the back of a performers mind. However, ‘Windows of Displacement’ created such a safe environment for its audience, as Toussaint Buck kept bringing everything he said back to a message of hope. A phrase that particularly stuck out to me was “be a mother to another”. Although the performance reminded and informed me of so many atrocities of the world, I felt, more than anything, inspired.

Leaving us with the quote “you being here is a part of our activism”, Toussaint Buck not only put on a stunning performance, but left the audience feeling inspired and hopeful in this time of societal dissonance. I urge anyone to see this show if possible, as although ‘Windows of Displacement’ has finished its run in Manchester, it will be performed around the UK for November of 2018.

Photo: The Other Richard

Review: ‘Salt’

Written by samuelmcelhattan on . Posted in Theatre.

Selina Thompson’s one-woman show ‘Salt’ was a breath-taking depiction of what it feels like to be a Black British woman in the 21st century. It was exactly what I needed to see, although I didn’t know it at the time.

Thompson recalled her physical and emotional journey from her experience embarking on a pilgrimage, roughly tracing the Triangular Trade. This was to explore Black British identity and its origins in imperialism, corruption, and abuse. She also explored her own identity through traveling to her birthplace and her adoptive parents’ birthplace.

Thompson’s insightful and beautifully poetic writing, outlined the repressive social structures in place that affect black individuals every day. She expressed her anger, frustration, worries, and joy at being Black and British. Stories of the derogatory language she faced while traveling on a boat, people asking where she’s ‘really from’, and the scrutiny she endures passing through airport security painted an incredibly telling picture of her life. I believe that is very commendable that Thompson didn’t fall into the trap of simply shouting about her problems, and not actually achieve anything, other than possibly a bit of sympathy. By creating a more rounded representation, Thompson provided the audience with a more meaningful understanding of her experiences.

Thompson’s magnetic stage presence allowed me to very easily connect to her story. She used humour very effectively to highlight both the absurdities of the situations she faces as a Black British woman, and her individuality – that she is more than just her ethnicity. With every word spoken, her emotions were crystal clear.

It was obvious that she was performing for us, as much as for herself. This was made apparent when she checked an audience member was okay after they left and re-entered, and by greeting every audience member afterwards and giving each a piece of salt rock as a memento. Thompson worked hard to create an inclusive atmosphere and it paid off – I was deeply moved by this piece.

My only real criticism is that ‘Salt’ was a very passionate and angry piece, and I think, at times, Thompson’s movement and physicality did not manage to keep up with it. There was however one moment that was beautifully synchronised: Thompson laid chunks of salt rock in a line on the floor and smashed each one with a sledgehammer when referencing a different stage in a structure of corruption and abuse, from capitalism to women. With each smash and every step of her explanation, the salt was left as nothing more than dust by the end. This was a high-energy, powerful visual metaphor for the destruction this structure causes.

I believe watching Selina Thompson’s ‘Salt’ should be compulsory. I found it eye-opening, empowering and touching. I have never leapt to my feet as quickly as when Thompson came on for her curtain call.

Photo @ Keesler Air Force Base

Trick or treat? The nightmare behind October 31st

Written by Emma Price on . Posted in Lifestyle.

You either love it or you dread it every time October comes around, but the marmite event of the year – Halloween – remains a stand out night in student culture. On one of the busiest nights of the term, almost everyone will be doing something to celebrate. And this year it falls conveniently in the middle of most students’ reading week. Around the city centre, every venue has a Halloween event until the early hours of the morning. If you haven’t got a ticket for an event, you will undoubtedly be going to a house party.

But where has the Halloween tradition originated from? The ghoulish holiday dates back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts, who lived 2000 years ago, celebrated their new year on November 1st. This marked the transition from harvest season to the winter season, a dark time associated with human death. 31st October, the Samhain, was believed to be a night where the boundary between living and dead disappeared and spirits returned to earth. They lit huge bonfires to ward off unwanted trouble and told each other’s fortunes. The Celts also wore costumes that often incorporated animal heads and skins. They believed this helped to deceive undesirable spirits.

In modern day traditions, things don’t go quite like that. But the costumes you and your housemates have planned for the upcoming event are finally ready to be shown in their full glory. With faces painted and devil horns on, it’s time to get everyone into the kitchen for pre-drinks. However, what is supposed to be a fun night can quickly descend into a living nightmare.

Greater Manchester Police say they see a rise of antisocial behaviour during the Halloween and Bonfire Night periods. This can include vandalism, rowdiness, noise, dealing or buying drugs on the street, street drinking, and fly-tipping. Halloween may be over, but the lasting effects are not. Anti-social behaviour also creates an environment that encourages more serious crime.

If you’re leaving the house empty this week, Greater Manchester Police Fallowfield tweeted a useful but often forgotten piece of advice: “Don’t forget to light up your house this winter and keep burglars well and truly out in the dark”.

Halloween may seem to be the scariest night of the year, but the impact it has on cities lasts much longer than a night. Greater Manchester Police advise anyone who has felt threatened as a result of ghoulish activities to call 999.

Photo: Anthony Falla @ Flickr

Colonial nostalgia is rife, so why aren’t we addressing it?

Written by hannahvallance on . Posted in Opinion.

I am a History and Politics student. I’ve chosen, in fact, I’ve paid £9,000 a year, for the opportunity to consider history from the less heard perspective of those beyond the Western realm. So it caught my attention when Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn argued that schoolchildren should be taught about the “role and legacy” of the British Empire, colonisation, and slavery. “Black history is British history” he rightly stressed, pledging to enhance teaching of the topic in the national curriculum.

In response to this, the government said schools taught a “broad and balanced curriculum.” Even in a Statutory Guidance report written by the Department of Education, it stressed that “a high-quality history education will help pupils gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world.” This is correct — so why is it that when I reflect on my experience of history at school, a large proportion of this seems to have been omitted?

Whilst The Victorians, the Tudors, the History of Medicine, and the Nazis were all considered paramount to understanding the past, the horrors of the British Empire — the concentration camps in Boer, the Amritsar Massacre and the Mau Mau uprising — were all relatively absent.

Take the BBC’s online resources for secondary school teachers as an example. A page titled ‘what Legacy has the British Empire left behind?‘ claims that “the Empire brought blood and suffering to millions — but it also brought railways, roads, and education”. Clearly ignorance is not to be blamed on the individual, it is to be blamed on the Government.

It was only five years ago that the former Education Secretary Michael Gove was forced to redraft his proposals for a borderline nationalistic history curriculum following severe criticism that it focused exclusively on white British history.

The glorification of terms such as “Britain and her Empire” and “the Heptarchy” (which refers to the Anglo Saxon kingdoms of England from the 5th to the 10th centuries) led the former director of the British Museum to warn that Britons used history to “comfort us and make stronger”. So, why do we still think it’s acceptable to gloss over the horrors of the British Empire?

It only takes a quick glance at the current political situation in the UK to see the dangerous repercussions of this reminiscent glorification of British history. Brexiteers idolised sovereignty in seeking to re-instate Britain’s position in the world. The Windrush scandal also highlighted the willingness of the government to gloss over the damage of the colonial era. Even Theresa May’s latest visit to Africa echoed the paternalistic rhetoric of the Empire.

Britain has always been a nation that has capitalised on the vulnerable state of others. Lest we forget, the Empire was built on the backs of the millions that died as a result of the barbarous regime.

A comprehensive understanding of this is absolutely paramount to recognising global inequality and poverty today, especially as Britain continues to exploit these issues, embedding the more subtle patterns of neo-colonialism with the help of the rest of the Western world. Teaching everyone the legacies of colonialism is crucial to overcoming the role it continues to play today.

Photo: Juliette Flach

A Sunday at The Whitworth

Written by julietteflach on . Posted in Arts.

The Whitworth Art Gallery is well worth a visit. Located 10 minutes walk away from the University, it offers a great excuse for procrastination.

The gallery offers a range of long-lasting exhibitions, but a quick Google search will also reveal the vast number of one-off events occurring regularly. My latest trip to the Gallery was jam-packed. It included live Syrian music, an art installation and performance by Aaron Guy, involvement in the sew a tree project, a book fair, Journeys festival family activities, and a visit to the normal exhibitions.

My sense of time slipped away as I entered through the gallery doors. I wandered around the exhibitions marveling at the beauty inside each frame. While sauntering slowly through the book fair, I was invited to let my creativity flow in ‘Stitch a Tree’ project; an initiative to show solidarity with refugees as part of Alice Kettle’s show ‘Thread Bearing Witness‘. After embroidering a tree on some loose cotton to contribute to the communal tapestry,  I was drawn by the sound of voices to watch a performance celebrating Syrian through music.

Just as I was beginning to make my way towards the exit, I was once more pulled off track. A drum started beating, and with it a short performance by Aaron Guy began. Guy’s latest project is inspired by his time spent researching at the Working Class Movement library. After the performance, surrounded by his temporary exhibition, he discussed the motivations and thoughts behind his work. He highlighted the importance of the monochrome colours chosen and the power of the drum; aspects to ensure that working people’s struggles are heard.

So next time you are looking for some procrastination, rather than starting a new Netflix series, why not head over to the Whitworth Art Gallery.

Key events coming up at the gallery are:

Sunday lunchtime concerts: free music by RNCM students performed in front of a beautiful backdrop of falling Whitworth park. The next performance will be on Sunday 4 November, by Festivo Winds.

The Manchester Print fair: showcasing great designs illustrations and publishing’s.

Tuesday Talks: Every week providing new and interesting insights into the inspirations, influences and motivation of those involved in the arts.

Find out more information at: http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/

Photo: 'Obvious'

Art and Artificial Intelligence: The Portrait of Edmond de Belamy

Written by Krishan Jethwa on . Posted in Arts.

Last week, the ‘Portrait of Edmond de Belamy’ sold for a huge $432,500 at Christie’s, over 40 times the amount it was initially valued at. The work seems unusual for the steep price paid and has a very unique style that makes it seem almost unfinished. The portrait is off centre on the canvas, and in the bottom right corner, there is an unusual signature. Rather than an artists initials or name, there is a mathematical equation inscribed.

This is because the artwork was not designed by humans. It was designed by a piece of artificial intelligence (AI) called a ‘generative adversarial network’ or GAN. Artificial intelligence uses a type of program which ‘learns’ to solve a problem. This means it can produce new pieces of art based on analysing existing ones.

The concept of a GAN is that you use a ‘Generator’ program to scan thousands of portraits. Using the information and patterns it has learned, it attempts to make similar portraits. Then another program – the Discriminator – tries to spot the difference between the original portraits and the copies made by the Generator. If the Discriminator can tell which portraits the Generator created, then they are discarded. The Generator will then try again to make similar portraits to fool the Discriminator. Eventually, the Generator makes convincing enough portraits that the Discriminator cannot tell the difference. These are the portraits output by the program.

The work has been created by the French art group ‘Obvious’, using a GAN. The question of how much credit can be given to ‘Obvious’, however, is controversial. As well as this ethical conundrum, the amount of code they actually wrote themselves to create the piece is also debatable.

‘Obvious’ has admitted to using an open source code created by someone else, borrowing a component of Robbie Barrat’s algorithm. Barrat is a recent high school graduate who shared his algorithms on GitHub, a computer-code hosting website.

Because the code is open source, anyone is allowed to read, use and make changes to his code. ‘Obvious’ have used this to their advantage, as there are even comments on GitHub where a member of ‘Obvious’ is asking Barrat to edit his code. ‘Obvious’ argue that although they are using Barrat’s algorithm, there is a lot of effort put into ‘making it work’. But what that entails is ambiguous at best.

The AI art community is also quick to point out that there is nothing particularly special or creative about ‘Obvious’’ pieces. Mario Klingemann, a Germany based AI artist, says it’s something that “everybody can do. You can clone [copy] this code from GitHub, start your computer and start doing it.”

This new form of artwork has dubbed ‘GANism’ – named after the type of AI used to create it – and will have an interesting future. Regardless of the work’s true author and the creativity of the group, the huge price paid for this work is a big step for the realm of AI art.

Photo: Barnard College Archives @ Wikimedia Commons

Obituary: Ntozake Shange

Written by Gurnaik Johal on . Posted in Books, News.

On the 27th October, acclaimed poet and playwright Ntozake Shange died at the age of 70.

Her breakout play, or as Shange called it “choreopoem”, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf has inspired generations of artists of colour. It was controversial in showing the nuances and struggles of being a black woman in America. Her experiments with language were trailblazing; her scattered verse had more in common with jazz scatting than with what was deemed serious theatre. To paraphrase one of her poem titles, her “pen [was] a machete”.

For Coloured Girls has been studied as a feminist masterpiece. Through its 20 monologues set to music, Shange dissected the intersections between racist and sexual violence.

She was a prolific writer, publishing 19 collections of poetry, six novels, five children’s books and three essay collections. She was still writing up to the moment of her death.

She said in an interview that she “write[s] for young girls of colour, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something for them when they arrive”. The two-time Pulitzer prize winning writer Lynne Nottage said that Shange “spoke to a generation of young women who didn’t feel invited into a theatre space, who suddenly saw representation of themselves in a very honest way, and understood that they could occupy that space for the first time.”

Her influence is widespread, she will be remembered and celebrated through her work but also through the work of writers she inspired. Every time you hear someone say a phrase like “black girl magic”, Shange’s legacy lives on. She wrote extensively about “black girl magic” and in one of my favourite poems of hers, My Father Is a Retired Magician, she writes that “everythin i do is magic these days”.

She put issues around racism and sexism centre stage, she created a space for artists of colour to perform and paved the way for a new generation of writers. By writing about suffering, she reclaimed control over her circumstances and spread a message of positivity. In her words, “you gonna love it/ bein colored/ all yr life”.

Photo: Nancy Rennie

Helping the homeless with a home-cooked meal

Written by Liv Clarke on . Posted in Features.

Even when you are living inside the student bubble, it is difficult not to ignore the problem of homelessness in Manchester. But often we feel that there is not much we can do — maybe give a homeless person some spare change, or buy them a sandwich. Yet truth be told very few students actually do this.

However, there is an easier and more effective way to help, which enables students to get involved with tackling homelessness.

I met up with Gaby Hartfield, a second year Law and Politics student, who is the homeless co-ordinator at the Student Action Group, to discuss the role that students can play in helping people who live on the streets.

Gaby volunteers with the Stockport Food Project, where she looks after a group of ten student volunteers who visit a shelter in Stockport every week, as well as two project leaders. The students take it in turns to attend the shelter in groups of five each week. Gaby does most of the administrative work, such as interviewing and selecting volunteers, and asking residents what food they’d like, while the project leaders oversee the daily running of the scheme.

Like a lot of students when they first come to Manchester, Gaby was shocked by the scale of the problem of homelessness in the city, and having always wanted to help others, knew that she had to contribute in some way.

“Back home I worked in a soup kitchen in town, but when I moved to Manchester it became apparent how bad the situation was here, so I found the Student Action Group on the SU website,” Gaby tells me. “The Stockport Food Project was set up last year, and I was the first student leader. It’s been satisfying to see it grow, but the paperwork is hard!”

What is inspiring about the project is how little commitment is required to have such a significant impact. Volunteers only to need to give up one Wednesday afternoon every fortnight. So what does a typical session involve?

“We meet at the SU, having done the food shopping before, with a budget of £30 per session, and we cook for 25-30 men. We brief the students about the situation and discuss safety checks,” Gaby explains, “then we get going and get cooking. The residents at the shelter also get involved and help to cook as well.”

This inclusivity is an important part of the project as it brings people together — “what everyone has in common is food, so that encourages everyone to get involved”.

One meal a week may not sound like much, but the actions of these students have a positive impact of the lives of the residents.

“We’re friendly faces, different types of people they can talk to,” Gaby explains. “They loosen up when we get there, they relax and talk to us. We might be a small project but we help with manners and communication skills.”

The Stockport Food Project also gives the residents something which we often take for granted — a sense of family. As Gaby tells me: “They remember you, they’re so excited… it has a homely feel when you’re there. It’s a home-cooked meal, [they say] ‘can you do this, this is what my mum use to do’.”

Each week they cook something different, often being adventurous with what they make, including Mexican and Thai food.

“We always do a main meal and a pudding, and bring enough tea and milk for everyone… we made homemade pizzas before, that was so good.”

The process itself is important too, as Gaby explains, “the aim is for everyone to do everything together, prepare, cook, and eat. Everyone washes up together, we’re all on an equal level”.

The beauty of volunteering is how it benefits both the volunteers and those at the receiving end — “it’s rewarding to see something you’ve worked on be successful, and to help others, but it’s also exciting,” Gaby smiles. “One of the people that we helped recently got a job in catering, so that was very rewarding”.

Volunteering is something that is achievable for students, and not only does it look impressive on your CV, it can give you invaluable transferable skills.

“With Law and Politics you need to be able to communicate with more vulnerable members of society, and volunteering is so easy to do alongside your degree… for one project to have such a large impact with such little hours is worthwhile”.

There are other projects which you can get involved with at the Student Action Group, so there’s no excuse not to get involved.

“It’s really important for everyone to do some volunteering, giving up your time for free can only be a good thing,” Gaby says.

“Student Action are understanding with student life… we don’t do things on Saturday mornings since everyone will be hungover! Balancing work, fun and volunteering is difficult, which is why Student Action is so good”.

Photo: Raul Mee @ Flickr

I have as much chance of ending austerity as this budget

Written by matthewgold on . Posted in Opinion.

Philip Hammond declared in the latest budget, with a smug look on his face, that austerity “is finally coming to an end”. If you will believe that, then do let me tell you about some magic beans I wish to sell to you. This budget does not end austerity in any sense. Three quarters of all cuts from 2015 remain government policy, and there are still £4 billion worth of cuts left to come according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. So let’s drop any pretence that it is the case.

If one is to critically analyse these pledges, however, it becomes apparent they are not all they may first appear. Especially when Hammond’s condescending tone is taken into account — granting schools “little extras” like “a couple of whiteboards or laptop computers”.

It is plain to see that the Conservatives are doing something wrong with our public healthcare system. The pledged spending of £20 billion over the next roughly four years actually represents a lower than average increase in funding over the lifetime of the NHS, according to the IFS’ response.

On top of that, recent reports have indicated that for the first time since the 1980s, this was the year in which average UK life expectancy hasn’t risen. Shockingly, the slowdown of life expectancy growth started the first year after the coalition took office.

The Universal Credit spending is perhaps the one positive step made within the budget, provided you are willing to accept that we are going to have to deal with what has already been a shambolic switch to the new benefits system.

However, it is still underfunded, slow and has been the result of considerable infighting in the Conservative party. The announcement for more funding was as much as anything a move to appease the few Tory backbenchers who cared that their party had been directly blamed for throwing more people into poverty.

The final part of the budget puzzle is the tax cuts. About £2.7 billion of tax cuts to be precise. In the promised end of austerity, we should all see some more money in our pockets, right? Well apparently mostly if you’re super rich: over half of all tax cuts will go to the top 10% of earners alone says the Resolution Foundation. The unevenness of the tax cuts shows the appalling manner in which Hammond will throw crumbs to those at the bottom of the ladder whilst putting more money into the pockets of the rich.

Once you look in detail at this budget, you can see its true nature. There are millions of people relying on food banks in UK. You would have thought that with the apparent £2.7 billion worth of money the treasury wishes to give away, they would have put more of that into solving the daily crises that these people face. With ideology and short-sightedness at every turn, the budget was an all too predictable disappointment.

Photo: Steven Haslington @ Geograph, Creative Commons

Artefact of the Week: The Heaton Park Colonnade

Written by louishaddad on . Posted in Arts.

On the off-chance you manage to escape the Oxford Road bubble, swapping the linear path of the Magic Bus for the effortlessly winding Metrolink tram, there is an enchanted stretch of nature that calls from far across the metropolis.

Most only know it during its chaotic incarnation as “the place where Parklife’s at,” yet this betrays what is otherwise an oasis of tranquillity. Cleaner air and greener pastures await the exploring student in Heaton Park, whisking them far from the monotony of their daily concrete reality.

Turning a corner, next to a lake, a grand, neoclassical façade stands in the park. Far from the polished buildings of the city centre, this monument to the past is like a ruin. It’s an abstract thing, something that you can’t really imagine really exists when you read up on its history. Something a bit magic, like Stonehenge.

The Colonnade dates back to 1822, when Francis Goodwin designed it as the façade of the Old Town Hall on King Street. As we see all around us, gargantuan  structures of every type of brick and stone were erected around the city centre, showcasing the growing population, prestige and prosperity of the 19th Century ‘Cottonopolis‘. Soon, the Old Town Hall fell into obsolescence and Waterhouse’s 1877 Gothic town hall replaced it, embodying a city of a new order.

Town Halls are the grand civic sculptures that tell the stories of our cities; the story of the Colonnade is something of a story of the 19th Century in Manchester. After the public campaign to prevent the demolision of the Old Town Hall was successful, each of its elements, from the sandstone volutes of its ionic columns to its largest slabs of stone, were carried north toward Heaton Park.

In 1912, its stones were carefully reassembled in its current place, in a realm far detached from its previous setting of thick smog, punctuated by the sound of horses’ hooves and pressing civic matters.

The Colonnade is currently bordered by a modern and generic black metal fence, which can be seen as the 21st Century’s mark on this structure. Members of the local community have said the decaying structure has been left to rot, while the council claims it is exploring ways to fund the restoration of the dangerous old façade. Maybe one day we will breathe a new life into this once magnificent structure, and the shroud of the black perimeter fence will be lifted for good.

Photo: Dnalor 01 @ Wikimedia Commons

Charity calls for university staff to visit Auschwitz as anti-Semitism rises

Written by Nicole Wootton-Cane on . Posted in News.

A prominent Holocaust memorial charity has urged university staff to take trips to Auschwitz following a rise in anti-Semitic incidents across university campuses.

The Lessons from Auschwitz programme is run by The Holocaust Educational Trust (H.E.T), and has taken more than 36,000 pupils and teachers to Auschwitz-Birkenau since 1999.

In 2017, an NUS survey showed that over a quarter of Jewish students live in fear of an anti-Semitic attack, and a further 66% said they believed that they had been targeted because of their faith.

H.E.T’s Karen Pollock told the London Evening Standard: “Over the past three or four years, student politics — or things that come up on student campuses with regards to certain debates — can become hate-filled. Increasing incidents of anti-Semitism on campus, and more generally, are becoming more of a thing.

“We felt [the programme] could make a difference. Going on a visit like this, it isn’t a punishment … it’s an eye-opening, hopefully fulfilling experience for minds and hearts.”

The figures come after it was revealed earlier this week that reports of hate crime in Greater Manchester have gone up by 43 percent over the last 12 months.

Home Office statistics for the year 2017-18 showed that Jewish people were the second-most targeted group after Muslims.

Manchester Union of Jewish Students has been contacted for comment.

Photo: Pete Birkinshaw @ Wikicommons

UoM has not joined EAUC initiative to reduce carbon emissions

Written by Shivani Kaura on . Posted in News.

The Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC), a non-profit member-based charity, has revealed that Vice-Chancellors and Students’ Union representatives from five UK universities have joined forces with the Government to tackle carbon emissions in major cities across the country.

The Government’s Emissions Reduction Pledge was signed on Thursday 18th October by staff at the University of Reading, Northumbria University, The University of Winchester, Newcastle University, and the University of Nottingham.

The EAUC have been appointed to represent institutions with over two million students and just under 400,000 members of university staff.

The University of Manchester, holding the highest number of students at any UK university, are not part of this programme. A spokesperson for the University said: “The University is committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 40% by 2020 (from the 2007-08 baseline).”

These plans put in place by the University include the introduction of Brunswick Park at the University of Manchester, which aims to add more greenery to the campus, making it more environmentally friendly, as well as more sustainable. This is part of the university’s ‘Campus Masterplan’ vision.

They followed: “We are the first university in the world to have been recognised as a carbon literate organisation which requires us to engage positively with our community in developing and delivering low carbon behaviour.

“For students this has included the sustainability grand challenge for all first years, and thousands of staff have engaged in 10,000 Actions, a programme of activity for positive action on sustainability.

“On campus we have undertaken extensive work to make new and existing buildings energy efficient and we have a large range of programmes to encourage sustainable travel.

“This is part of a huge range of activity, from procurement to catering which is contributing to carbon and other sustainability targets.

“Alongside this our academics are carrying out world-leading research into subjects such as energy, transport and the social impacts of climate change which are making meaningful differences around the world.”

Supported by Unicef Environment, the EAUC focuses on creating 5-year-plans to improve organisational reach, and convening power and business models, as well as creating a platform for sustainability performance in education, as they believe the issues of social, environmental and economic sustainability are interlinked.

Ali Milani, Vice President at the National Union of Students (NUS), said: “It’s great to see the tenth anniversary of the Climate Change Act being celebrated in Green Great Britain Week, and even better to see the first Universities in the UK signing up to this really challenging emissions reduction pledge.

“Making this commitment demonstrates real sector leadership and we really hope the institutions involved will deliver the 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions they’ve agreed by 2020/21.”

It was recently revealed by council leaders that Manchester City Council have debated plans to introduce a congestion charge for vehicles in the city. Carbon emissions in Manchester are at some of their worst figures to date.

Photo: pxhere.

Calls for £100m slavery reparation fund from UK universities

Written by Nicole Wootton-Cane on . Posted in News.

A London university has called for all UK universities which benefited from slavery to contribute to a £100 million reparation fund.

Geoff Thompson, chair of governors at the University of East London, said that the fund should be used to help students from ethnic minorities, calling it “ethical and right”.

The call comes after the University of Glasgow revealed that it had received collective donations of up to £198 million in today’s money from those who had profited from the slave trade.

The university management have now announced a reparative justice programme, including a centre for the study of slavery and a memorial or tribute on university grounds in the name of the enslaved.

The University of Glasgow is unlikely to have been the only university in the country that benefited from slave trade profits. Other cities such as Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester have also had close financial ties with the international slave trade that became illegal in 1807.

Mr. Thompson said that his proposed fund was a “historic opportunity to invest in those who cannot afford or cannot see themselves graduating with a life-changing qualification”.

Universities that were founded after the 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, such as UoM’s predecessor Manchester Mechanics Institute (1824), may still have benefited from donations by people who profited from the slave trade.

Similar debates are taking place in the United States, where slavery was not fully abolished until 1865. Georgetown University has given extra admissions support to descendants of a group of slaves sold by the university in the 1800s.

Harvard University unveiled a commemorative plaque for slaves who had lived and worked at the university.

Mr. Thompson encouraged all universities to look into their past, stating: “Every university has historians, archivists, and researchers who can help institutions inform them about their past.”

“It is about how seriously we take the past to inform our future, and what we can do to help change lives”.

Photo: Financial Times @ Flickr

Give Manchester same transport powers as London, says Burnham

Written by Sam Honey on . Posted in News.

Mayor Andy Burnham says that he doesn’t have the level of authority or resources available to adequately tackle a growing transport crisis across Greater Manchester.

The 48-year old suggested that Manchester’s day-to-day control over transport would need to be equated with the powers available to the capital city, London, in order to effectively resolve the problem.

Despite often carrying the label of the UK’s ‘second city’ Manchester does not hold the same level of jurisdiction over the funding and organisation of its transport network as its southern counterpart.

Manchester suffers from heavily overburdened roads, congestion crushes in the city centre at peak times, and serious issues with rail services, with Oxford Road having been named as the worst station for delays in the whole of the UK.

Another major concern is the deteriorating air quality across Greater Manchester, which has seen the government set Burnham a deadline to produce a Clean Air Plan by the end of 2018. The mayor has confirmed his willingness to outline such a proposal but has said that he will not be able to oversee its successful implementation without a range of new powers.

This has led to Burnham asking people across the region to sign up to the ‘Take control of our Transport’ campaign, a Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA)-backed initiative that makes a series of demands to the government, in order to improve transport quality in the region.

Requests include further devolution of authority over rail networks, including Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) control over all Greater Manchester stations, joint planning power over roadworks, and a major investment programme in the area’s infrastructure until 2025.

Monday’s budget offered no regionally-focused transport funding announcements, and financing for ‘New City and Growth’ deals was specifically earmarked for Belfast, North Wales, and the Tay Cities area.

While frustration simmers over a perceived lack of government intervention in Manchester’s transport system, a need to address the city’s issues with congestion has been widely recognised, with the problem costing the city around £1.3 billion annually.

Burnham famously pledged to prevent the introduction of any congestion charge in the city when he was elected in May 2017. However, with Manchester second only to the capital for traffic congestion, calls have been made to revise this promise to deal with the intrinsic link to poor air quality.

The Mayor’s congestion deal was announced earlier this year and introduced a range of new policies, including more regular Metrolink services on the Ashton line, a new digital service that would offer real-time updates for sat-navs and GPS, and a review of transport for mid-week Manchester United games.

Employers also have a substantial role to play in easing congestion worries. The rush-hour ‘crush’ in the city centre is invariably due to many companies operating a traditional 9-5 working day, leading to huge pileups at each end of the day. In response, the council has introduced incentives to encourage companies to offer flexible start times, including heavy discounts on MetroLink travel.

So far a number of big name organisations have introduced the use of a new flexible scheme, including Kelloggs, Talk Talk, and Manchester Airport Group.

Such measures are however only alleviating, and the need for many council-wide powers to relieve pressures on the city’s transport network cannot be understated.

Controversy persists over how exactly centralisation can effectively manage local services, such as rail and bus links, compared to the carefully overseen devolution of funds and responsibilities.

Burnham echoed this sentiment, saying, “I fully understand the frustration people feel at the delays and disruption we are currently experiencing. I feel it too because I simply do not have enough powers at my disposal to get a grip on things”.

Photo: Sergio Leone @Wikimedia Commons

First Watch: Once Upon a Time in the West

Written by Harry Peate on . Posted in Film.

Sergio Leone’s magnum opus Once Upon a Time in the West captivates the senses in every minute of its run time with deep characters, a perfect score, and some of the coolest dialogue in the business.

The film has returned to the big screen for the Design Manchester Festival’s sixth year, and is prefaced with a unique introduction by festival co-founder Malcolm Garrett.

This 1968 movie is epic in proportion but, broadly speaking, centres on the joining of forces of a mysterious harmonica player (Charles Bronson) and a notorious desperado (Jason Robards), in order to protect the most beautiful of widows (Claudia Cardinale) from the most fiendish of foes (Henry Fonda).

The acting provided by this all-star cast is effective in providing the nuanced characters necessary to maintain an audience’s attention for the nearly three hour run time.

Indeed, each ‘book’ displays more by the end of the narrative than their ‘cover’ — even the clichéd appearances of the beautiful widow or grizzled gunslinger give way to more tenderness or fighting respectively, than Leone originally had you believe.

Fonda does however prevail in his promise of a cold and calculating killer that carves up Leone’s hot and hostile setting, leaving misery and the seeds of revenge in his wake. Claudia Cardinale perhaps shines brighter still by providing a figure who, while is walked over by the opposite sex, still manages to be a dominatrix of dialogue with a barbed tongue in defiance before any grizzled gunslinger, which helps her to win the viewers heart.

Despite all this, however, Once Upon a Time in the West would hardly stand out from the crowd of 60s spaghetti westerns without the union of Leone’s purposeful cinematography and Ennio Morricone’s perfect score.

These pillars of the experience work together in a symbiosis seldom seen on the silver screen. Leone champions the power of the gaze to direct the flow of action on screen while Morricone’s tones control the tension and atmosphere surrounding every situation.

Long drawn-out stare downs are slow and deliberate, with simple close-ups leaving plenty of room for mournful harmonics and high-pitched strings. This use of music begins as almost a way of portraying the calculating thoughts in each character’s head, then as the pace quickens it builds suspense for the inevitable and regrettable actions.

The score is seldom interrupted by anything other than the hard-hitting gunshots that perforate the film, turning Morricone’s masterful sounds into the living embodiment of the characters’ feelings and sensations before all is cut short with a trigger.

Overall, Once Upon a Time in the West is a well-deserved staple of the western canon that belongs nowhere but the big screen where the captivating characters and score can truly shine.

Rating: 4.5/5

Photo: Pixabay@Pexels

#iweigh myself, and you really should too

Written by sambrougham on . Posted in Opinion.

As someone who has always been very body-conscious, felt uncomfortable, and had anxiety within many different social situations due to societal expectations of what is considered healthy and attractive, I have too often felt out of place.

Since discovering the ‘I Weigh’ movement, however, the empowering messages behind the different submitted posts has shifted my thinking process to a more positive one, prioritising the attributes that I weigh about myself.

The ‘I Weigh’ movement started as a form of socio-political resistance to expectations of what a woman’s body should be, as portrayed in magazines, television, and different media in this digital age of hyper-consumerism. However, ‘I Weigh’ is so much more than body confidence. It is about life positivity, self-worth, and inter-sectional empowerment. It encompasses so many different aspects of life and the variety of thinks that people should value about themselves besides what they see on the scales.

Spearheading this campaign is actress Jameela Jamil, who has been outspoken on these issues. Through her social media channels she stands to be a role model for others. This can be shown by her own ‘I Weigh’ posts — with empowering dialogues she remains transparent with her followers, especially around airbrushing, and the choice to not have makeup to cover up stretch marks on her breasts on TV. This honesty is sadly very rare amongst similar celebrity figures.

The reclaiming of the word ‘weigh’ is such an important triumph. It helps to break down the negative connotations of weight (or #f*ckingkg, as they like to refer to it on the page) to a more favourable, positive word that promotes happiness and empowerment. It allows Instagram users to have a safe space to express what they love about themselves, promoting good mental, and physical wellbeing.

The movement has gained traction recently with a following of 193,000 and thousands of submitted posts from people declaring what they weigh about themselves. This would benefit both students and the wider community of Manchester, especially following the claims in the report by Time to Change that three-quarters of people in the North West suffer from mental health issues alone. In these particularly harsh political climates, empowerment and self-love is critical for everyone.

Whether you decide to submit a post to ‘I Weigh’ or not, it is still important to consider what you weigh, to yourself, to others, and what you value. So the next time someone asks you how much you weigh, remember it’s not numerical.

Follow the ‘I Weigh’ movement at their Instagram: @I_Weigh.

Photo: @ Joshua Winter

You have been upgraded: Manchester science week

Written by Toby James on . Posted in Science & Tech, News.

‘If you haven’t yet, you will be’. That was the message given at ‘You Have Been Upgraded,’ an event at the Manchester Science Festival. Setting up camp in the Science and Industry Museum was the fictional organisation, Unlimited Enhancement Technologies, complete with their enchanting CEO Jon Spooner.

Enigmatic and charismatic, the extravagantly dressed, garishly-haired Spooner led the attendees on a tour through a catalogue of bodily enhancements. Avant-garde artists and research teams alike completed the cast of this bizzaro trade show.

The use of  biometric enhancements is slowly transitioning from medical necessity to optional extra, and the array of speakers reflected this trend. 13 year old Tilly Lockey was heavily involved in the design of her 3D printed bionic hands. Wearing two different styles, she demonstrated their value as a fashion statement as well as their functionality. Her left hand was modelled on a character from the video game, Deus Ex. Her right was coloured, shiny, and covered in lights. Tilly, who helped create her ‘Hero Arms’ with robotic limb developer Open Bionics, illustrates an important point that biomedical engineer Kianoush Nazarpour was keen to emphasise: user input is key to the development of personalised prosthetics.

Filmmaker and double amputee James Young echoed this sentiment. With a vision for a new type of arm, James is waiting for technology to catch up with him. Whereas current prosthetic technology relies on surface mounted electrodes to detect muscle pulses, James envisions a prosthesis grafted into his skeleton that connects to subcutaneous electrodes.

The difficulty for James is a direct result of one of the main issues in this field. Although research into ‘osseo-integration’ is progressing quickly, according to Kianoush, advanced developments in prosthetic technology rely on private funding to test new equipment. As such, their data is limited to amputees who are willing to try out untested technology and who are able to pay for their personalised prosthetics, often priced in the tens of 1000’s of pounds. However, James remains optimistic with regards to the potential for biotechnology developments: “If you create connectors that understand the human brain rather than picking up muscle signals, you might be able to use the technology to do other things and expand your abilities.”

Demonstrating the current focus of research, teams from around the country were on-hand to present the future of biotech. Kianoush’s Intelligent Sensing Lab at Newcastle University invited volunteers to play rock-paper-scissors with a robotic hand, using technology found in prosthetics such as Tilly’s. The University of Salford went one step further, by inviting attendees to hook themselves up to one of the researchers and move their arm using stimuli generated by muscle sensors on the volunteer’s own. This technology aims to improve the physiotherapeutic rehabilitation of stroke patients by allowing the muscles to be guided by electro-stimulation.

The University of Manchester’s Nanomedicine Lab, fronted by Professor Kostas Kostarelos, had an exciting display about the potential uses for nanomaterials in medicine. Gold, lipids and, unsurprisingly, graphene are all touted as future lifesavers with a wide ranging list of applications.

Iron and gold nanoparticles are being used to target brain tumours by inserting them deep into the mutated tissue and heating them, killing off cancerous cells. Professor Kostarelos’ team spoke confidently of the uses of graphene dots as a non-toxic nano-material in medical imaging, detecting cerebral activity and targeting organs, with reduced side-effects compared to current methods.

If those in attendance were beginning to feel desensitised to the plethora of radical concepts on show, biohackers Manel Muñoz and Lepht Anonym took the evening one step further. With programmable microchips in their hands and small magnets embedded in their fingers, Lepht detects the presence, direction, and strength of magnetic fields, acting as an extra sense. Although Lepht doesn’t identify as a cyborg, Manel, with his pressure-sensing synthetic organ implanted in his skull, does.

An artist with an immense love of weather, Manel was “inspired by the idea of transforming sensors into senses. I always feel really connected with rain, and now I feel it in my body,” as a “sparkling” in his brain. Describing his barometric sensor as an “exo-sense”, Manel, along with Lepht, embodies the futuristic idea of bio-enhancement for non-medical purposes, a topic explored further by dancer Ghislaine Boddington.

“The influence of transmission from our cells, of our senses, is how we can move forward,” she says. Ghislaine is also interested in incorporating intimacy into technology by sensing others through the “internet of bodies.” Speaking abstractly about communicating through our heartbeats and sensualities, she hopes that technology will bring us closer together, taking us back to the “basics of humanity.”

As a final act, Spooner provided the highlight of the night, by revealing how close we are to biotechnological enhancement. Inviting body piercer and modifier Jenova Rain onto the stage, he had an NFC microchip inserted into his hand. Despite his obvious nerves, the procedure was quick, painless, and, if the speakers of the night are to be believed, the not-so-distant from future norms. Little was mentioned of the dangers and disadvantages of such enhancements, but we now live in a world where the choice exists.